1 Samuel 18

1 Samuel 18Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

18 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own life.

2 Saul took David that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own life.

4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, even his sword, his bow, and his girdle.

5 And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he prospered and behaved himself wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was satisfactory both to the people and to Saul’s servants.

6 As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the Israelite towns, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with timbrels, songs of joy, and instruments of music.

7 And the women responded as they laughed and frolicked, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

8 And Saul was very angry, for the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed only thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?

9 And Saul [jealously] eyed David from that day forward.

10 The next day an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved [madly] in his house, while David played [the lyre] with his hand, as at other times; and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.

11 And Saul cast the javelin, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. And David evaded him twice.

12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

13 So Saul removed David from him and made him his commander over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

14 David acted wisely in all his ways and succeeded, and the Lord was with him.

15 When Saul saw how capable and successful David was, he stood in awe of him.

16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

17 Saul said to David, My elder daughter Merab I will give you as wife; only serve me courageously and fight the Lord’s battles. For Saul thought, Let not my hand, but the Philistines’ hand, be upon him.

18 David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?

19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.

20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and it pleased him.

21 Saul thought, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So Saul said to David a second time, You shall now be my son-in-law.

22 And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately and say, The king delights in you, and all his servants love you; now then, become [his] son-in-law.

23 Saul’s servants told those words to David. David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?

24 And the servants of Saul told him what David said.

25 Saul said, Say this to David, The king wants no dowry but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to avenge himself of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the Philistines’ hands.

26 When his servants told David these words, it pleased [him] well to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the days expired,

27 David went, he and his men, and slew two hundred Philistine men, and brought their foreskins and gave them in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

28 When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michal [his] daughter loved him,

29 Saul was still more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s constant enemy.

30 Then the Philistine princes came out to battle, and when they did so, David had more success and behaved himself more wisely than all Saul’s servants, so that his name was very dear and highly esteemed.

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